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TRS retains Kesava Rao for Rajya Sabha, picks K R Suresh Reddy for second seat
TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao cleared the name of Kesava Rao for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats that are falling vacant next month. He announced the candidature of K R Suresh Reddy, former speaker of combined Andhra Pradesh, for the second seat.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s parliamentary party leader Kancherla Kesava Rao was on Thursday re-nominated as the party candidate for Rajya Sabha elections for a second term.
TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao cleared the name of Kesava Rao for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats that are falling vacant next month. He announced the candidature of K R Suresh Reddy, former speaker of combined Andhra Pradesh, for the second seat.
The TRS, which has 104 members in the 119-member state Assembly can easily win both the Rajya Sabha seats.
Kesava Rao, who got elected to Rajya Sabha on a TRS ticket in March 2014, before the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh, was allotted to residuary Andhra Pradesh through lottery after bifurcation, while Congress candidate K V P Ramachandra Rao, who belongs to Andhra, was allotted to Telangana.
Eighty-year old Kesava Rao had been associated with the Congress for four decades and held several positions including PCC president. In 2013, he quit the Congress to join the TRS and has been playing a vital role in the party since then.
On the other hand, Suresh Reddy, who represented the assembly from Armoor in Nizamabad district, was also associated with the Congress party holding several positions including cabinet minister and state assembly speaker. He joined the TRS before the state assembly elections in 2018.
An official release from the CMO said both the TRS candidates will file their nominations on Friday. They thanked the chief minister for choosing them as party candidates for the Rajya Sabha, the release added.
